Description

Flat out circumnavigation of the Indian Railway network (GCIRC). Mumbai to Dwarka in the extreme west, Udhampur in the extreme north, Ledo in the east and Cape Kanniyakumari in the south. Also Ghum near Darjeeling as the highest point, and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu as the most coastal. 12,500 Km of rail in 2 weeks, with only 2 nights in a motionless bed, the ultimate Indian train journey.

Here is the itinerary, we spent quite a few months working it out with a bunch of Indian train experts. if you are thinking of coming, apart from deciding if you can handle 2 solid weeks on an Indian train (if you've never even spent one night on an Indian train give this some serious thought) you need to get your seats/berths booked well in advance. DO NOT just turn up in Mumbai with days to spare and expect to join in.

We have a number of the superior sex (as my wife likes to say) who insist they are coming, None of these are personal friends so I can't guarantee any of that, though the GT folks themselves are all fired up, one of who is female. Traveling alone on Indian trains can be especially taxing for girls. You get stared at an awful lot. Boys do too, just start taking photos at people who do this to you.

If you'd always wanted to do this but needed a good excuse and some allies, your number just came up.

Trooper Talk

Mark_Lester The "yellow alert" on the ticketing quotas is now canceled. Our man has come back with the numbers and as long as we dont balloon past 30 people we are all going to get a bed.
Actually, the mystical Arunachal Express only has 30 SL berths available anyway, so if we hit 30 for that we're going to have to draw lots.
So I'm back to working out the logistics. In particular our 3 road sections, at dwarka-porbandar, amritsar, and the assam ledo-dhemaji section. I've got a very reasonable quote of Rs 2,000 per Qualis per day in Amritsar, and we've got some serious on the ground contacts at the other two.

5 years ago

Todd Great to hear Mark. It will be amazing if 30 people end up traveling. Can't wait. I'll try to get Red Bubble done in the next day or so. Rebuilt the computer and need to find a free application to export the image file in the right format. Will keep you updated. Also, the trip's received good coverage from Stumble Upon: more than 100 shares so far (see top of page). Wish we could help more, but we're swamped right now.

5 years ago

Mark_Lester No worries. The super cheap place I found in UK wont play at keeping stock, so it;s only cheap if you want to buy at least 10. So I'm going to have to look about again now. I had an old work mate who is in Mumbai say he'd got a friend who does t-shirts in India but he never got back. But no rush. red bubble certainly look like the best option for US/Oz.
Get yourself GIMP for image handling, it's fab.
Also, I found a great eatery in Amritsar
http://www.punjabiportal.com/articles/kesar-dhaba-amritsar-punjabi-food
which is exactly the kind of place I was looking for.

5 years ago

hanish hey mark i may suggest while your railway trip in India you can also go out to kalka shimla train passes through 103 tunnels and view is spectacular and even toy train in dargeeling both of them are declared as a world heritage by UNESCO

5 years ago

Mark_Lester Hi Hanish,
yes I know it is, take a close look at the image I'm using for my avatar in here, recognize the carriage ?. Shimla station, and the whole ride down to Kalka, is one of the finest railways on the planet. But there's only so much you can do in 2 weeks.

5 years ago

Swaroop Mark, I'm planning my own version of the GCIRC in August. Can you please provide a few details about the leg from Dwarka to Porbandar by road? Was it easy to get a taxi? Are the roads good? Was Porbandar worth the visit?

Todd Get in touch with Mark via the Facebook page to book your tickets. We've already booked our and look forward to seeing all the Globetroopers in Delhi.

5 years ago

smileabhi hi mark/todd,
have been to ladakh region and also assam.
when is the last date to confirm.
other than departure and arrival stations how many other places will we get to c. I hope it won't b a trip spent only travelling on a train.

5 years ago

smileabhi u need to have sufficient time wen u r traveling on road. traffic jams r very common in india.

5 years ago

Mark_Lester Unfortunately, it is essentially a trip traveling on a train. We do get to do a few things, but all very hurriedly.
But why not join us for a few days, where are you based ?. if you are Delhi you could perhaps pick us up there and stick with us till after Darjeeling.

smileabhi i m in mumbai. my plan is to be in a plave near kaziranga national park from feb 8-16 2011.but ll meet u somewhere either mumbai or on the way anywhere.

5 years ago

smileabhi the in between gaps that u have will not help you much with regards to sight seeing

5 years ago

Mark_Lester there isnt any sight seeing. well that's not true, you get this
The Temple at Dwarka, though it will be a quick one
Wagah border
Golden Temple
You could take a drive up the road at Udhampur
Connught Place! (if you want to do delhi come back later)
Tipong Colliery and Digboi refinery
Crossing the Brahmaputra
Darjeeling (ok, mostly at night)
Breakfast in Calcutta, and ferry over to Howrah (come on, great view of the bridge)!
The temple at Rameswaram
Day break at the cape
Trivandrum Coffee House
As much Mumbai as you want

5 years ago

smileabhi well mark......................ll i wud b more interested in meeting all of u.............so lets c if can join mid-way somewhere.ll let u know.

5 years ago

Mark_Lester seriously abhi, we're getting real short of Indians actually doing part of this. we want to meet you too!. we wil be in AC for most of the time, but actually we'd al like, from time to time, to spend time in the breezy, if chaotic, world of SL. so see if you can at least do say the dbrt rajdhani (actually thats ACIII min anyway) or the north west circuit maybe. met us at amritsar or better still ahmedabad. 1 day getting to adi, 1 day train meeting 30 odd tourists, 1 day amritsar inc wagah, 1 day udhampur vegging out in the afternoon.

Todd IMPORTANT UPDATE: It's time to book the train tickets for the Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge. As Mark mentioned below, if you're joining us for the GCIRC, please visit the official Facebook page for information on buying your tickets.

The Facebook Page is here: http://bit.ly/a4x2aG

If you are not on Facebook, please leave a comment here and we'll forward the ticket details.

As most of you know, there were between 30 and 50 people interested in joining the trip. We expected the numbers to drop once it came time to book, but Mark said he already has 20 confirmations.

Personally, I think this is a very rare opportunity. Apart from the challenge (and excitement) of circumnavigating India by train, you'll also get to raise awareness for a global issue and spend quality time with other inspired travellers. Plus, unlike most epic adventures, this trip is as cheap as chips. Head over to the Facebook page to see the price of the tickets.

The Globetrooper team are on-board, plus a small group who've found the trip through this site. There's also a reasonable female contingent, so if you were worried about too many guys, never fear. Also, there are lots of solo travellers, so it's a great trip to meet others.

If you have any other questions, just ask Mark (who's on Globetrooper too) or head over to the Facebook page and leave a message.

All the best, happy travels, see you in India! :)

5 years ago

Mark_Lester Hello Itchy. I just got a message that you are a "confirmed". Do you know how to get your tickets sorted out ?. Please join the fb group or just mail me at mc_lester@yahoo.co.uk if you need help with this.

5 years ago

Mark_Lester We now have t-shirts available. so if you arent or cant come, but still want a classy t-shirt for wherever you are going instead, look no further http://gcirc.wordpress.com/t-shirt/

5 years ago

Lauren For some of the women out there who haven't yet experienced India, I found a great resource with lots of good tips: http://www.journeywoman.com/girltalk/india/indeindia.html

5 years ago

Msi Hi, I think I might be interested in joining. By the looks of the itenerary/outline there's no real getting off and exploring of the different regions, right? Also, by when and how do you book the train tickets? I traveled throughout China on trains before so am cool w/ riding on a train for long periods of time and went briefly to Rajastan on a GAP tour, so I have an idea as to the conditions of the trains in India. This sounds like a really awesome trip. Thanks!

5 years ago

Todd Great to hear MSI. There are a lot of interconnecting railways, so there will be lots of hopping on and off. Plus Mark has previously talked about "wash-stops" in motels along the way. Lauren and I plan to stay for a little while afterwards too. No concrete plans yet, but we'd be crazy not to stay longer. That said, Mark_Lester is the go-to-guy for more info. You can visit his blog dedicated to the trip and the very long forum discussion over at IndiaMike.com (the exact link is on Mark's blog).

5 years ago

Mark_Lester Ahoy MSI. Yes, you get the picture.
I am currently working on sourcing deliveries of good stuff for the tiffin boxes so we can concentrate on washing when ever we are off the train. Most of our trains have food, but it's usually iffy at best, so I am going to make every effort to get the food sorted.
Two thirds of the trip can actually be done in first class, which apparently have showers!, but most of us will be in AC2, which is quite nice but no shower. Some of my more delicate mates will be doing it in first though, if they actually turn up that is.
Roughly half the party will be natives, which will aid the mission on several levels.
I'll be organising for a tiffin box salesman to turn up wherever it is we convene in Mumbai so you can get yours. it wil only cost a few bucks, I will be getting two!.

Mark_Lester And regarding booking the trains. We have a great guy here in London(Wembley) who can sort this all out for you, dont worry about that side of things. Of course if we get hit with some enormous delay then it will all go tits up as we wont get a whole gang of us on the next train. But I have been monitoring all our trains for the last 6 months. There is a web site that publishes the arrival times and I am a programmer so I wrote something to catch all those so I can see how reliable everything is.
Things aren't anywhere near as bad as everyone,including most Indians, will have you believe, and we have very ample gaps between trains. But shit does happen.

5 years ago

Msi I think the overnight train I took in India was AC2, so pretty comparable to trains in China. Ok so I think I'm a bit dense - but where can I find your blog? Want to figure out train tix etc. since I know those have to be bought way in advance.

5 years ago

Mark_Lester blog is here
http://gcirc.wordpress.com
we will be using these guys to book stuff
http://www.indiarail.co.uk/
make your mind up time will be end of september

5 years ago

Lauren Hey Mark, sorry just had to look up what a tiffin box is :) but now I get the pic. Can you tell me how it works? We buy them first in Mumbai before the trip then at each stop we clean them and get them re-filled?

5 years ago

Mark_Lester yeah thats the plan. two may be overkill but they are cheap, useful, and a great momento.

Jools Stone Wow, a lot of info here to digest! I'm pretty much sold on it now I think.

5 years ago

Mark_Lester Well, here's a thread on IndiaMike which is 1,000 posts long. It's largely nonsense about me monitoring the trains. There's a site that tells you when stuff turned up, so I wrote a program to monitor it. Turns out stuff isnt quite as chaotic as everyone thinks. But sure, it's no Switzerland.
That thread has become a bit of a monologue though, with the odd heckler.
All you need to know is what's on the route page, and to contact shankar.
if you are Indian it's another story for the bookings..

5 years ago

Usha I probably have checked this site so many times just this week alone. I was wondering, besides travelling on the train, will we get off to at least explore the surrounding areas? Guess we will right? During the waiting time for the next train yeah?
I'm an undergrad from Shanghai, China. Originally from Singapore. Ethnically Indian. I can be of some language help.
However, its annoying I can't decide immediately cos I need to see when my winter break for year 2011 starts. Though there is a 60% chance I might just join in. Sounds fun!
Great job to all who came up with this venture. :)

5 years ago

Mark_Lester Hy Usha.
We have some pf the Singapore Indian gang on board already. We've Ketki who's family are from Bombay.
We don't get to see a heck of a lot, but we do have am afternoon's sight seeing in Amritsar where you get to do the border closure and of course the temple. And we have the temples at Dwarka and Rameswaram too.
But you'll certainly have done Indian trains when you've finished.
You could join us just for a section if you wanted to see somewhere properly.

5 years ago

Usha Nah. I kinda wanna do the whole ride. Thanks anyway Mark. When is the closing date? I can't seem to spot it? :s

5 years ago

Mark_Lester booby gravy.
the route is here
http://gcirc.wordpress.com/route/
we've a facebook event here
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=371461612956&index=1
We've got over 10 women listed now. Even if half of them drop out, which I don't think they are going to now, we've certainly got a sizable girl gang which will be handy for obvious reasons at the wash stops etc.
You've got till about start of Nov to make your mind up.
Welcome aboard! (vac timetable permitting)

5 years ago

satishdina7 Hi Guys, I am an Indian currently living in US..I will be in India next year from Jan to Mar..I am from Chennai..I would like to join with you guys for this trip ..Even If your dates are flexible I can take you guys around lot of interesting places in the state of Tamil Nadu..

5 years ago

Todd Hi Satish. You're more than welcome to join. There are 30 possibly confirmed travelers, maybe even up to 50, but the more the merrier. The start date is relatively fixed in order to properly time the different legs of the journey. Also look at the blog page for the trip (http://gcirc.wordpress.com), our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/globetrooper), and the GCIRC facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/globetrooper#!/group.php?gid=372971199730&ref=ts) for more info.

5 years ago

Mark_Lester Namasteji Satish, and happy independence day!.
It's not a normal trip, we'll only be in TN for about 36 hours flat. But we really do want people who cant do the whole lot to jump on board for a short section and join the party. Come to Rameswaram with us and down to Cape/Trivandrum. We've got several,. possibly a lot more than several, who will jump on board the coro with us down to Chennai and do the circuit round to Mumbai. I'm hpping to get more "Indo-Anglians" on the case (brits of Indian origin so as not to confuse with Indians with english blood) We've got a few already but i'd like some more. The t-shirt has already been quite successful in this. But we also want as many people from as many different backgrounds as possible, especially Indians.
So start making space in your plans, we hit Chennai 3rd march roudn about 5:15 pm, Be there!!